1. Background of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector having parts which can be selectively mated to and unmated from one another, and, more particularly, to pin contacts for such a connector which has individual parts that are replaceable without requiring re-termination.
2. Description of Related Art
A well-known electrical connector includes plug and receptacle parts which can be selectively mated together and unmated, with individual cable wires connected to pin contacts on the plug being interconnected (or disconnected) with socket contacts carried by the receptacle part. There are many situations in which plug and receptacle connectors because of being subjected to strain and vibration result in their pin contacts becoming bent or broken. One such use context which presents especially difficult problems of this kind is the temporary connection and disconnection of mobile electrical power source equipment to aircraft while parked at an airfield. More particularly, after an aircraft has landed and shut down its engines, it does not have sufficient onboard electrical power for operating such things as air conditioning equipment, for example. Accordingly, it is conventional practice after the aircraft has landed, that an electrical power source carrying vehicle drives onto the field to a point adjacent the aircraft and mates an electrical power cable via a connector part to a complementary connector part affixed to the aircraft. The latter connector part is most frequently mounted to the underside of the aircraft or occasionally on a fuselage sidewall, adjacent the cockpit which can require considerable lifting and manipulation effort due to the relatively heavy connector part at the cable end as well as the cable weight itself.
Those skilled in the electrical connector arts generally refer to a connector part having a "pin" as a "plug connector", and the connector part including "socket" contacts within which pin contacts are received are referred to as a "receptacle connector". Quite frequently, the connector parts are simply referred to as "plug" and "receptacle". However, in the specific context of interconnecting mobile electric power equipment to an aircraft, the connector part secured to the aircraft is referred to as a "receptacle", and the connector part at the end of the cable is called a "plug". To insure consistency and clarity of understanding the aircraft usage in this connection will be followed.
Both connector parts experience plating and base metal wear from (1) repeated connections/disconnections which is exacerbated from excessive side loads if there is plug/receptacle misalignment, (2) "walking" the cable to overcome required mating force, and (3) high cantilever loads from excessively large cable weights. All of these connections can also result in pin contacts becoming bent to the point of preventing mating, or accelerate wear and necessary mating force, which are undesirable.
On a fuselage-mounted present-day receptacle becoming damaged to the point of unmateability, this can require many hours of work repairing or replacing the receptacle, which usually must be done within a hanger or repair shop area. Also, during this repair time the aircraft cannot be flown if the connector part on the aircraft is being repaired.
On the other hand, when current known plug contacts become unusable, this necessitates returning the cable and damaged plug connector part to the manufacturer for overmolding and re-termination of the plug to the cable wires. Downtime for the associated aircraft could result if spares were lacking.
It is, therefore, a desideratum to provide an electrical receptacle connector part with its pin contacts being individually replaceable without the need for re-termination to aircraft internal wiring.